The present invention relates to an improved truck mounted attenuator that includes an adjustable tailgate mount.
Truck mounted attenuators are widely used to decelerate impacting vehicles while limiting deceleration for occupants of the vehicles to safe levels. Such attenuators are positioned on shadow vehicles such as heavy trucks that are parked in front of work zones. The truck protects the work zone against intrusion from a vehicle that has left the roadway, and the highway crash cushion protects the impacting vehicle and the shadow truck during a collision.
June U.S. Pat. No. 5,642,794, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, discloses one highway crash cushion that is mounted to a truck via a support frame that includes articulated arms. An energy absorbing element is disposed in the support frame, which is designed to collapse and to decelerate an impacting vehicle in a controlled manner.